AVENGERS ACADEMY Gets Its First Student… Veil

Amongst all of the hoopla of the restarted and reshuffled Avenger books, the one we hadn't heard anything about other than its name was Avengers Academy. Until now. Avengers Academy #1 by Christos Gage and Mike McKone hits in June. And here's its first member:

 

Avengers Academy Veil

 

I've never heard of Veil. Is she someone that people whoo are familiar with Avengers: The Initiative will know? Seems odd to kick off the PR campaign with someone with such low name recognition. Regardless, I'll probably read the first issue of Avengers Academy just because I'm so excited about the entire line right now. (Of course I did the same with Avengers: The Initiative and didn't last beyond the first issue.)

Comments

  1. OOOOH THAT IS AWESOME! PLEASE O’ PLEASE have some of the Initiative Kids and Young Avengers on this team. It’d be cool to have a runaway and New X-man in there as well.

  2. I was a big Avengers: initiative fan for a while and I didn’t know of her during my time reading the book. she may have showed up after i was forced to drop the book, but I have never heard of her.

  3. So glad the first reveal is doing nothing to make me want to buy yet ANOTHER Avengers title 🙂

  4. I’m really excited for Avengers Academy. The first two arcs of Avengers: Initiative were some of the first issues I bought as they were coming out. Just glad they’re starting with introducing (who I assume is) a new character. 

    Interesting side-note: Her name is done in stylized lettering. Hope the rest of them are too. 

  5. @John: I have every issue of Initiative, and she isn’t shown. Unless she’s in the background, she’s not in it.

    (note: if I’m wrong please give me an issue number so I can recheck. thanks)

  6. Planning on cutting all the Avengers books when the reboot happens because none of the teams or creative teams excite me.

  7. There was a character called Veil in some of the x-books in the early 90’s

  8. It just bums me out that people are going to write this book off because it’ll be comprised mostly of new characters. These being the same people who complain that there are no new ideas in comics. Grumble.

  9. That’s pretty off-putting for me. The copy is silly, the typography on that character name is gross. The character looks kinda coll I guess.

  10. Yeah, I’m sort of glad Mighty is done with, I only read it in trades after Secret Invasion.

  11. She looks similar to Abyss, I wonder if her powers are similar

  12. why not fill this team with young avengers. I do not understand not using them. I am fine with new characters and alll, but you have a whole team of interesting characters and they are not being used.

  13. I am soooo glad Avatar made it okay to use Papyrus again.

  14. Oh Christos Gage he’s more miss than hit with me.  Also I enjoyed the first arc of Intiative but thats it.  So does this mean the 50 state plan is still in affect?  So does the Registration mean something?  If so it would make a lot more sense for Secret & New Avengers

  15. @lantern4life: I can’t think of any way that anything to do with the Registration Act still exists after Norman Osborn is taken down. It wouldn’t make any sense, storywise.

  16. I am curious why a title like this is still going. Don’t get me wrong, Cage and McKone on a book sounds nothing but comic goodness. But why does this title have to exist? The Registration Act is pointless and practically dropped. If it’s not, @conor is right, it’ll be offically taken down probably after Seige.

    So the need for an ‘Academy’ just doesn’t seem right.

  17. @TNC Why not? Young heroes need training, it only makes sense for the Avengers to do it.

  18. @TNC: This is a new book that doesn’t currently exist. It’s not a title that is "still going." The ideea of a training ground for new superheroes is certainly a sound one that is worth exploring and one that is timeless and not tied specifically to the Registration Act.

  19. I don’t see why an Academy automatically means that the registration act is still in effect. Why couldn’t it just be some Avengers training younger heroes because they feel the need to?

  20. Sorry, Conor. When I submitted mine, yours wasn’t on the page yet. Didn’t mean to repeat you.

  21. This and Secret are the only Avengers books I’m interested in.

  22. I do not think this is about the registration act. I think it is just the avengers training the future heroes.

    i will try this book out. To me the best thing they can do is for it to be like a real school.

    You get trained up and then move on to a big team or start your own. I would love for the book to be the start of some new characters career ( or some young avengers). I like the idea of following a heroes career from just learning and then on to the big leagues.

  23. @conor/gobo: Again I’m just thinking of the overall purpose.

    I mean sure it can be used as an ‘offical’ training ground for new Avengers. I’m just thinking that…..at no time did the Avengers (or any superhero team for that matter) needed to train heroes. Considering how many times they jumble up the team as it is through out the years; having an Academy seems pointless.

    "Oh Veil we did have a spot for you, but Galactus came and destroyed the entire team. We had to start from scratch. So if you stay with the Academy and there is no internal pressure to change the team again then we’ll save a spot for you."

  24. My guess is that this is Arachne’s daughter (the one from Omega Flight) right hair color and I think there was some involvement between Arachne and the shroud so the power set seems logical.

  25. @TNC: The Avengers themselves have a long history of training new heroes. The fact that they are doing it now in an official capacity is not such a radical concept.

  26. I like the title a lot more than initiative. Avengers Academy lets people know exactly what the books about.

  27. The X-Men have been "Mutant Academy" almost their entire existence, this is just for (mostly?) non-mutants

  28. @Otto: That’s not funny.

  29. @jj  actually that was great. Papyrus is way better than comic sans which i see in windows at almost every small business from pet stores to used book shops

  30. @TNC: I agree with @conor and @gobo. Plus I like to think that these are "professional" heroes in the sense that they train like law enforcement for their job.  These recruits are opting to do the hero gig full time as a paying job. I don’t know if it would be for the government as was the Initiative or maybe on the Avengers/Stark payroll.  Then again, maybe the Avengers are just training new recruits for the normal vigilante type of superheroing.

  31. This sounds kind of interesting. I am not a HUGE Avengers fan, but it would be cool to findout about the application process and how to get into the academy.

  32. So..her body is invisible while her head is visible? Worst power ever.

  33. I am most excited for this book.

    The fact that the original book was able to make it 37 or so issues using C list and under heroes and villains is awesome.

    Much like DC’s 52, this book taught me a lot about the Marvel Universe outside of the major players.

  34. @Scorpion  The fact that Initiative made it to 37+ issues using C list and under heroes and villains makes me fairly confident that the Avengers brand is not oversaturated.

  35. I don’t know who the fuck she is, but she looks pretty cool.

  36. @ohcaroline: Well said!

  37. I haven’t read the Avengers Initiative in awhile, though I didn’t drop that book due to low quality, though it was a budgetary pull-list casualty that most of us unfortunatly have to make from time to time. I love the purpose of this book, as I’ve always been intrigued by the younger generation of heroes (which is why I love Teen Titans and New X-Men: Academy X so much). Gage usually does great work with all the thankless event tie-in issues, so it’s really cool that he’s going to be headlining this inevitable top selling book. I hear he’s been doing great things with Avengers: The Initiative, so I have no doubts that he’ll knock this out of the park.

  38. Avengers Academy is kind of like what The New Mutants in a way, but for Avengers, and it totally makes sense.  The title that doesn’t have a place or seem to make sense is New Avengers.  It’s made up of characters on the Avengers team (or in Luke Cage’s case, Thunderbolts), so I’m not too sure what the point is?  I guess it’s kind of like having multiple Spider-Man titles, why have just one comic with those characters in it when there could be two?  Still, seems kind of silly to me.  And I will admit, I was hoping for a new West Coast Avengers, so call me bitter. 😉

  39. I think the need for this series is necessary because for the past 2 years we’ve had these heroes the government sanctioned and trained and employed. Where the hell are they going to go after SIEGE? The heroes HAVE to find a solution to this new unemployment problem. Gotta give the kids some purpose or maybe they’ll just send them all packing and go home, but that wouldn’t sound heroic at all not to mention un-American. I think this series will work IF they address those issues and tie a neat solution to it.
    The way I see this going is only good places, unless that is it goes the way of INITIATIVE then it’ll go to bad places. I needed something like this since NEW X-MEN’s cancellation. =)

  40. I’m only midly interested in most of these new Avengers books, but I think I’ll pick up at least the first issue of each. I’ll be happy as long as there isn’t too much crossovers between these books.

  41. @JJ – I was kidding. Cameron deserved to lose the Oscar for that alone.

  42. @TNC – Cap has trained pretty much every hero who’s ever stepped foot in The Avengers Mansion. You’re expending far too much energy hating on books that haven’t even come out yet. Not to mention the roles haven’t been defined yet. Get. Over. It.

  43. I worry that Josh won’t read this comment

    I’m excited about this book, I haven’t seen much of McKone’s work before but did some looking around and it was pretty.

  44. @ conor et al – I know where you’re coming from thematically, but Osborn really has nothing to do with the origins of the Registration Act, so Osborn being taken down doesn’t automatically mean it’s gonna be repealed. Steve Rogers was already pardoned, and I can see a general amnesty being granted for all the anti-registration heroes. Maybe an overhaul of the plan, but I’d guess that whoever is in charge (Steve?) will take the good (like mentoring young heroes) and forget about the bad (everything else).

  45. Hmm… not thrilled about this. I liked Initiative well enough, but like most of Marvel it went off the rails with Secret Invasion (That said, it was one of the better SI tie-ins.) But I hadn’t really be enjoying it much before that. I will say, it did get me to like the new 3-D Man and… was it the Crusader? The guy who wore the Freedom Ring? I was really sad when they killed him as he was one of the few likable, relatable characters on the team.

    I’ll check this out, see how I feel but this will be the first on the chopping block unless the issue just blows me away. Or Jubilee’s on the team. 😉

  46. @patio: I would imagine that wiping the slate clean with The Heroic Age, and putting all the bad from the last seven years behind us will require getting rid of the root cause and that’s the Registration Act. If not, then it won’t make any sense from a story perspective. If not, then it’s all lip service.

  47. @gobo – Hah! Totally got that. Ah, Twitter…

  48. Part of me would love to see the Young Avengers show up here (as regulars not guests), but I just enjoy them so much as just their own group together. the whole team probably couldn’t show up here as they might overshadow the new players, and anyway they seem to have "graduated" already.

    I expected some joke that the first revealed team member would turn out to be….LUKE CAGE. And then I’d guess the reason why the SA are all in silhouette is that they are all clones of CAGE too. But no.

  49. I’m not hating on the book, I’m just trying to see the purpose of it.

    Okay so Cap and others have trained people in the past. But it wasn’t an offical school or training ground. Again people come and go as they please when it comes to any superhero team. Like a rotating door. So trying to stabilize that seems a bit pointless to me.

    I said it before and I’ll say it again: Cage and McKone on a comic will be goodness. If anything it might be a very good trade. I just don’t see it lasting too long.

  50. TheNextChampion, this book is coming out of a book that has lasted over 3 years.

  51. LOL, ah, TNC you never cease to amaze me. So… because something didn’t exist before, it can’t be started now? New programs are begun all the time. Are you looking for a logical story element or a publishing element? The logical story element will come in the book. But I think there are some fairly obvious reasons. Example: The Avengers are the center of the Marvel spotlight, and (in a vein similar to the JSA over at DC), they decide that if the government is going to do away with registration, then it’s up to them to be the trusted advisors who will train the next generation of heroes.

    It could be something else. But that took as long as it took to type to think up. Seems like you’re fretting needlessly. When it comes out, just enjoy the book on its own merits… or don’t. Silly to speculate on its purpose without reading a page. Every book has to justify its own existence. Editors don’t just greenlight a book about "just a bunch of guys fighting bad guys." Every team book has a book. This will too.

  52. er, "every team book has a HOOK." Man, I am not paying attention today.

  53. So, is this a fourth on-going Avengers book or will this be a mini?

  54. @Neb: It’s the fourth.

  55. @conor~  Ok, thanks.  Man, I had no idea they were relaunching with four Avengers books.  Despite my disinterest in most of the new Avengers stuff coming out (except maybe BMB and JRJR), I might keep this one on my radar.  Call it the "Young Avengers" potential this title could hold…

  56. So the first student of the Avengers Academy is a pigeon-toed, handless, mummy? Count me in. 

  57. In some capacity, I want some of these characters in the book:

    Gauntlet

    Komodo

    Trauma (Nightmare’s son)

  58. @daccampo: Maybe I am being a bit too serious on it. I don’t know. I just think the logistics of it doesn’t seem sound. I could be wrong….in fact I probably will be.

    It does make sense that the heroes still want to train others so another Samford accident doesn’t happen. I guess that’s a good enough reason.

  59.  The initiative is my favorite ongoing I think it is the only book that has been my pick of the week more than Invincible. I’m really hoping that Avengers Academy can live up to that standard. This book handles such a large group of characters very well and it always seems to be the life of the events. Especially with secret invasion.

    ScorpionMasada’s  list of characters is exactly what i was about to post. I just had Justice added to that. Trauma is one of my favorite characters.

  60. Avengers, New Avengers, Avengers Academy, Secret Avengers… did I miss anything?  Why do I feel like it’s X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force all over again?

  61. @Race: Or: NEW AVENGERS, DARK AVENGERS, MIGHTY AVENGERS, and AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE.

    There are four Avengers books now; there will be four in the summer.

  62. Did Tom Beevort say there was gonna be another Avengers book? I keep seeing everywhere that ‘Avengers Academy and New….new new new’ aren’t the final teams. Maybe I misread it..

  63. @Conor – Good point.  I’m a bit out of the loop.  I think maybe it’s just the scale of the simultaneous launch that reminded me of that early 90’s X-Line reboot.  New, Dark, Mighty, and The Initiative all launched at different times, if I’m not mistaken… although maybe when Dark launched, Mighty and New rebooted. 

  64. So it’s like the original X-Men idea but with non-mutants? Could be interesting

  65. @RaceMcCloud no, you are correct, they launched at different times. New Avengers was the only Avengers book for a while. After Civil War, they launched Mighty Avengers and Avengers: inititative, but Mighty came out once every 6 months, so it didn’t really count. Then after Secret Invasion, they launched Dark Avengers. So it was a more gradual thing. But I guess Marvel is assuming anyone who is buying the four Avengers books that just ended will buy these as well, and they will snag some new readers with the #1 issues for these four books. I dropped the Avengers titles a few months ago, but i’m actually considering jumping on board with some of these, if not all. Just have to figure out what I would drop to get these instead…

  66. I have absolutely no idea who she is, but I’m buying this title for Gage.

  67. I’m not currenty collecting Initiative nor Mighty.  Hopefully, for the sake of money, I only like 2 of these books as well.  I’ll buy the first of each though to get a feel.

  68. We are just trading what the four books are, I figured Marvel would not stop selling four books so the relaunch is really just a reshuffle of which heroes are in each book.  No interest in buying this title I plan to only pick up New Avengers and Avengers for now.  I might start buying Secret Avengers if Deadato leaves the book.

  69. The Registration Act existed before Norman rose to power it i conceiveable it wil be there after he is gone.  If not officially then in the spirit of idenitfying super heroes and formally training them law enforcement style as seems to be the spirit of this book.

    I do hope that New Avengers pay some part, it would seem le a terrible waste of investment in those characters.

     

  70. never heard of her at all in any of the avengers the initiative stuff i do not know where she came from